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Kings News: Four Kings Elect Arbitration

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Johnny Utah said:
That is some balls for Martinez and Nolan, who had off years. Muzzin is a rookie coming off a good year. Lewis is a Sutter favorite.
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Muzzin had a good month, not year imo. To top it off it only came when he was paired with doughnuts so he got some space. If any of these guys win their case I really hope the door doesn't hit them on the way out.

I don't really get these bottom tiered guys thinking they deserve more, they are a dime a dozen and would rather watch rookies play in their place.
 
The only guy there deserving of a notable raise is Lewis. Muzzin possibly, but we're talking something like Martinez's last contract, hardly a big deal.
 
Considering how tight cap space has been for the Kings I'm sure they're not being very generous with their offers. No surprise that it's coming to this. I'm guessing a couple of 'em will get done before arbitration.
 
Most, if not all, of those who filed for arbitration don't have a lot of leverage going in.

Lewis is a 26 year old forward whose career high is 5 goals and 14 points, which he hit this past season, albeit in an abbreviated one. He's produced similarly to a guy like Kyle Chipchura, who as a UFA re-signed for three years at $875K. However, if you compare him to other RFAs who re-signed, say Abdelkader, Beleskey, and Galiardi, he'll get more than $1M via arbitration.

Nolan has appeared in 97 games in his NHL career (including playoffs) with a season high of 2 goals and 6 points. Comparables are guys like Ryan Reaves (signed at $600K), Zac Rinaldo (signed at $750K), and Frazer McLaren (signed at $700K). So at most, if Nolan wins his case, I can't see him getting more than $700K due to his lack of experience and low numbers.

Martinez and Muzzin are the more intriguing cases due to their short period of success, though they have been brief.

Martinez will be signing his third pro contract. His career high is 16 points in 60 games in 2011 and he netted 6 goals in 51 games in 2012. His numbers were down this past season, only appearing in 27 games with only 1 goal and 5 points to show. In the past three seasons, Martinez has finished 6th in average time on ice among all Kings' defensemen. If you were to compare his ice time and numbers with other similar defensemen, you'd get the following results:

Adam McQuiad, 26 y.o., career high 15 points, signed three years at $1,566,667 per.

Mike Weber, 25 y.o., career high 17 points, signed three years at $1,666,667 per.

Kris Russell, 26 y.o, career high 23 points, signed one year at $1,500,000 this summer (previous contract was three years at $1.5M).

Chris Butler, 26 y.o., career high 21 points, signed one year at $1,700,000 this summer (previous contract was two years at $1.25M).

Ryan Wilson, 26 y.o, career high 21 points, signed three years at $2,250,000 per.

Jakub Kindl, 26 y.o, career high 13 points, signed four years at $2,400,000 per.

Mark Fayne, 26 y.o., career high 17 points, signed two years at $1,300,000 per.

David Schlemko, 26 y.o, career high 14 points, signed two years at $1,187,500 per.

Justin Braun, 26 y.o., career high 11 points, signed three years at $1,250,000 per.

Jason Demers, 25 y.o., career high 24 points, signed one year at $1,500,000.

These are the 10 best comparables I could come up with who play a similar role to Martinez in terms of where they stand on their respective teams' depth charts and their minutes earned.

If you take those numbers into consideration, Martinez may be looking at earning between $1.2M or more, depending on the length of the contract. The players signed to a longer term were earning more than the others and all of the above mentioned players will be UFAs when their contracts expire.

Given these facts, my guess is that Martinez is on his way out and that Muzzin will be retained.
 
Of note, a change in the new 2013 CBA is that teams are NOT allowed to walk away from arbitration settlements that are less than ~3.5 million. Since none of these 4 players will get that amount, them electing arbitration merely guarantees them a contract. I really doubt that anybody other than maybe Martinez actually goes to arbitration though.
 
I'm thinking that the risk of Martinez getting a substantial raise via arbitration. I also believe that once a player's new contract is awarded through arbitration, the team cannot trade the player for a full year? I know that is the case for matching an offer sheet, but need clarification if that is also the case for an arbitration award.
 
Ziggy Stardust said:
I'm thinking that the risk of Martinez getting a substantial raise via arbitration. I also believe that once a player's new contract is awarded through arbitration, the team cannot trade the player for a full year? I know that is the case for matching an offer sheet, but need clarification if that is also the case for an arbitration award.
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No since with an arbitrator the max contract is 2 years. It is either a one year deal or a two year deal. And it is my understanding that the side that didn't choose arbitration gets to choose the length beforehand.
 
Winger23 said:
Muzzin had a good month, not year imo. To top it off it only came when he was paired with doughnuts so he got some space. If any of these guys win their case I really hope the door doesn't hit them on the way out.

I don't really get these bottom tiered guys thinking they deserve more, they are a dime a dozen and would rather watch rookies play in their place.
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Well it is their career.

I don't think either side actually wants to go through with it. Lewis is coming off a career year, so his timing is a little better. He might be able to squeeze a little more out of the Kings. I'm sure he was looking at Richardson making over a million last year, and wondering where his million is, being more productive and playing more minutes than Richardson. Filing arbitration at least puts a deadline to things(and deadlines are great motivation), and it's probably a couple hundred thousand per year they're talking about.

You look at the injury Martinez had over in Europe, and he's probably thinking you have to get the money while you can. His luck of course isn't as good as that of Lewis, since Martinez had his contract run out in the wrong year for him. Last summer would've been better for him. I'm guessing he's looking at a guy like Ellerby and thinking he should be at least a couple hundred thousand dollars richer. 9 defensemen though, and if Mitchell is healthy...

Nolan and Muzzin, I don't know where that's coming from. Muzzin might be looking at his team leading +/-, and wanting a bigger raise. Or his agent anyway. Clearly Muzzin was a train wreck in the playoffs, but then he did still play nearly every game. Nolan just wasn't the same Nolan.

I can't imagine that any of the 4 negotiations are that far removed between the player and team. Arbitration just moves things along and gets a guarantee that it'll be done one way or another. I'm thinking none of them make it to the hearing, one way or another. There are still weeks to negotiate before hearings even start.
 
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